This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-58416, filed Sep. 26, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microwave ovens, and more particularly, to microwave ovens for a vehicle, wherein inner devices of the microwave ovens are prevented from getting damaged by vibration and impact from movement of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave oven is an electrically operated oven which cooks food contained in its cooking cavity using high frequency electromagnetic waves (xe2x80x9cmicrowavexe2x80x9d). The microwaves are generated by an oscillation of a magnetron installed in a machine room of the microwave oven. That is, during an operation of the microwave oven, the magnetron inside the machine room radiates the microwave to the cooking cavity. The microwaves penetrate the food so as to repeatedly change a molecular arrangement of moisture laden in the food. That is, the molecules of the moisture are vibrated to generate a frictional heat within the food to cook the food.
Typically, microwave ovens are designed to be operated by AC power, and are used in a kitchen space having an AC power supply. However, in recent years, a microwave oven operated by DC power has been introduced and used in both indoors (at home or restaurants) and outdoors, especially in a mobile vehicle.
A conventional microwave oven for a vehicle is fixed to the vehicle so as to prevent the microwave oven from moving from its original fixed position regardless of vibration or impact applied to the microwave oven, during for example, where the microwave oven is carried by a moving vehicle.
However, in the conventional microwave oven for a vehicle, a joint unit such as a bolt directly joins a lower surface of a body of the microwave oven and the vehicle. In this case, the impact and vibration generated from the moving vehicle are directly transferred to the microwave oven. Accordingly, inner parts of the microwave oven including various devices which operate the microwave oven may be damaged.
Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a microwave oven for a vehicle provided with a vibration damping unit which damps vibration and impact generated by a moving of the vehicle, so as not to damage the microwave oven, and a joint unit which holds both the microwave oven and the vehicle.
Additional aspect and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
To achieve the above and/or other aspects of the present invention, there is provided a microwave oven for a vehicle, comprising a body which forms an appearance of the microwave oven, a magnetron which generates microwaves and is contained in the body, a cooking cavity which is defined inside the body to contain food therein, and a vibration damping unit which damps vibration and impact generated in response to a movement of the vehicle and fixes the body to the vehicle.
The vibration damping unit may comprise a vibration damping member which is elastic and damps the vibration and impact, and a joint member which joins the body of the microwave oven and the vehicle through the vibration damping unit.
The joint member may include a joint shaft having a female screw machined part which is provided at one end thereof so as to be fixed to the vehicle, a supporting part which is extended in a radius direction from the one end so as to be supported by the vehicle, and a male screw machined part which is provided at the other end of the joint shaft so as to be fixed to the body.
The joint member may further include a nut which is supported by the vibration damping member, and set in the male screw machined part so as to join the vibration damping unit to the body. The body of the microwave oven may include a lower plate having a penetrating hole which receives the vibration damping unit therethrough. The lower plate may include a joining member which is set corresponding to the penetrating hole so as to secure the vibration damping member and the joint member to the body.
The joining member may comprise an upper cab which is a hollow cylindrical part having an opening at one end thereof and set on the penetrating hole of the lower plate, and a lower cab which is a hollow cylindrical part having an opening at one end thereof and fitted with the opening part of the upper cab.
The vibration damping member may comprise a first damper which supports an upper surface of the nut, a second damper which supports one or more side surfaces of the nut, and a third damper which supports a lower surface of the nut.
On the other hand, the vibration damping member may comprise an upper damper which is set on an upper part of the lower plate and a lower damper which is set on a lower part of the lower plate so as to have a part of the upper damper and a part of the lower damper meet at their ends to fill the penetrating hole. In this case, the male screw machined part of the joint shaft penetrates the lower damper, the penetrating hole and the upper damper so as to fasten the nut on top of the upper damper.
The penetrating hole may include a rib part which is extended downward from the penetrating hole so as to form a ring shape. The part of the upper damper projects downward and fills a part of an area formed by the rib part and the part of the lower damper projects upward and fills the remaining part of the area formed by the rib part. The part of the upper damper and the part of the lower damper meet at the rib part.
In contrast, the vibration damping member may be a single damper which is provided on an inner side of the lower plate and has a projecting part which extends from a lower surface of the damper so as to penetrate through the penetrating hole. In this case, the male screw machined part of the joint shaft penetrates the projecting part and the penetrating hole so as to fasten the nut on top of the vibration damping member.
The microwave oven may further include a flat washer which is provided between a lower surface of the nut and an upper surface of the vibration damping member.